How can I get my daughter to stop screaming?

My almost 5-year-old daughter expresses both joy and surprise with ear-piercing screeches that are physically painful. It drives my wife and I crazy, and we've tried telling her many times that that's an outside noise, and that it hurts our ears, but she doesn't get it, presumably because it's an automatic reaction.

Anyone had luck solving this problem?

Parent Answers to "How can I get my daughter to stop screaming?"

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My girls are loud screechers too. One of them failed a hearing test, and was then discovered to have a double ear infection. She hadn't complained of any pain in her ears, etc, so now I'm worried that she could have an ear infection any time and I would never know it until she complained again of not being able to hear me! That's another issue, though.
She took a course of antibiotics and then passed a hearing test, although she still failed the lower range of the test.
So, definitely get your daughter tested if you haven't already. They're both still screeching though. I can't say much because my mom and sister and I are all very loud, too. Oh well...
The reason I responded to this was because I think you are in my area (Trinity/NPR) and I saw you were interested in Charter Schools. Please email me if you would like, I have attended School Board meetings in Pasco to further Charter Schools and consider the principal of Athenian Academy a good friend and wonderful educator. I have also seen John Legg (founder of Dayspring Academy) at these School Board meetings, and he is an incredible advocate for Charters and a very intelligent, dedicated man.

That being said, Pasco Co. is extremely unfriendly towards Charter Schools.

If you would like more info, please feel free to email me.

Thanks,

batlmdn1@yahoo.com
Heidi

"About four percent of children under age five have some hearing loss in both ears, and as many as ten percent have a loss in one ear. An estimated one to two percent of school-aged children are permanently hearing impaired." (U of IA Hospitals & Clinics, 2005).

I don't think that your answer was all that insensitive. While parents use varying degrees of techniques to correct misbehavior, I think you were headed in the right direction, statistically speaking. Ninety percent of all children have no hearing difficulties whatsoever. It is reasonable to suggest that a child's incessant screaming is behavioral rather than physiological.

Sorry I, didn't mean to sound insensitive.

It sounded like a behavior issue, for which you have already tried to correct.

I would definitely investigate hearing or other problems before doing what I suggested.

Thanks for the info. I'll look into it further. And thanks for the tip on Loud Mouse. My daughter loves books, and we're always looking for new ones. I'll definitely check it out.

You asked "Why screaming might suggest that she have a hearing problem." Well if you have any hearing problems, even mild ones (including audiological processing problems, which might not be related to how well she actually hears) then she might not have the ability to modulate her voice, especially when she is excited. So to her her screeching sounds more like she is just talking in an excited manner. In other words she can't distinguish between her screeching and a normal joyful voice.

I myself have some audilogical processing problems and when I am excited will often get unusually loud. I have to be cued by others who know me to actively lower my voice, which takes effort and feels like whispering. My parents had me do many hearing tests but I always passed them. But we now know that kids can hear fine but the brain can have trouble processing sound. If you want to Google this to learn more you can google CAPD (Central Auditory Processing) or (Auditory Processing).

On a separate note there is a WONDERFUL children's book called, "Loud Mouse" about a little mouse whose voice is just TOO LOUD and who gets in trouble because of it. It is a adorable and my kids loved it when they were younger.

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How can I get my daughter to stop screaming?

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